Nightmares
by etmuse
Summary: Jack opened his eyes, and immediately closed them again. MAJOR SPOILERS FOR CHILDREN OF EARTH.


Jack opened his eyes, and immediately closed them again. He didn't want to get up. He didn't see the point in getting up. Especially not now that the emergency was over.

He'd held it together long enough to defeat the 456, held it together while he'd had to. But now… he wasn't sure if he ever wanted to get out of bed and deal with the world again.

He turned onto his side and curled up into a ball, pulling the duvet over his head; burrowing his face into the pillow and inhaling the scent of his favourite Welshman.

His eyes snapped open. That wasn't right.

He pushed the duvet off and looked around. This was unmistakably Ianto's bedroom. Ianto's bedroom in Ianto's flat. In Cardiff.

And not where he'd fallen asleep the night before.

He stretched his hands out, feeling his way across the mattress. Yes, this was Ianto's bed. Right down to the little dip just off-centre, where one of the springs had broken and they hadn't quite gotten around to fixing it.

It was a good excuse for why they always ended up snuggled together in that spot when they woke up.

He rubbed at his forehead. Why was he here? _How_ was he here?

His gaze flew to the bathroom door when he heard it start to open.

Ianto stepped out, a towel wrapped around his waist. Jack just stared.

"Jack?" Ianto looked confused as to why Jack was staring at him quite so intently. "Are you okay?"

Jack pushed away the covers and leapt out of bed, throwing himself into Ianto's surprised arms. "You're back," he whispered brokenly into Ianto's naked shoulder. "You're back. I don't care how you're back, as long as you're staying."

Ianto stroked a hand over Jack's hair. "I was only gone ten minutes," he murmured softly. "And I was only in the shower."

Jack pulled back and stared at him, lifting a hand to stroke a tentative finger down Ianto's cheek. "But… but I saw…you were…" He shook his head and turned back to look at the bed. "It must have been…"

He looked hard at Ianto. "So the Hub didn't blow up, then, did it? And the children haven't all started speaking in unison?"

Ianto shook his head slowly. "No…" He pulled Jack closer. "At least, not as far as I'm aware. I did only wake up twenty minutes ago."

Jack buried his face into Ianto's chest again. "It was all a dream," he murmured repetitively. "Just a dream."

Ianto had no idea what was going on, but just held Jack tight, running his hands over the warm skin of Jack's back comfortingly.

Jack's head suddenly came up. "I love you, Ianto," he blurted.

Ianto blinked, startled.

Jack swallowed hard. "In… in my dream… and _God_, it was a vivid dream… but in my dream… you died in my arms, and I still couldn't tell you." He pressed his forehead to Ianto's. "You died, and I'd never told you I loved you. I…"

He paused and took a deep breath. "When that day finally comes, hopefully a long time in the future, I don't want to have that regret. I need to know that you know how I feel. That you know how much I love you."

"I know, Jack," Ianto said quietly. "Even without the words, I knew."

Jack closed his eyes and just breathed in _Ianto_.

"And I hope you know that I love you too," Ianto whispered. "And if you didn't, I'm telling you now. I love you, Jack. When my day finally comes, remember that."

Jack drew in a gasping breath and leant forward just an inch more to press his lips to Ianto's in a burning, desperate kiss.

Ianto responded immediately, opening to him and allowing Jack to deepen the kiss, letting him take that reassurance that he was here, and he was alive, loving him.

They were both slightly breathless when they finally pulled apart; slightly breathless but feeling much closer than they had before.

Ianto cupped Jack's cheek. "Are you okay?"

Jack leaned into Ianto's hand. "I will be."

"If you need to talk it through, I'm here." Jack had done that for Ianto many times, with nightmares.

Jack started to shake his head, before stopping himself. If his dream had told him anything, it had told him that he didn't really want to hide everything away any more, that he didn't want to hold Ianto at that distance any more.

He kept a hold of Ianto, shuffling backwards towards the bed and settling against the headboard with Ianto cuddled to him in his lap.

"In 1965," he started, "I did something that weighs on me to this day. Something awful, that could come back to haunt me on day. Something I've never told anyone about, but I think I need to tell you now."

Ianto just snuggled closer, and listened.


End file.
